I mentioned to a friend that Namibia’s Independence Day falls today, and she told me that all she knew about Namibia was that it was where Brad and Angelina went for the birth of their child. Somehow this information had passed me by—I mean, I knew it was Africa, but I have to admit that I hadn’t been interested enough to learn which country in Africa. I’ve been wondering whether this ignorance about the movements of Brad and Angelina makes me more or less shallow? It’s an oddly troubling question.

My friend Sheena spent time in Namibia, as it’s a place where she could use her German (though English is the official language, both German and Afrikaans are recognised—and of course all three languages reflect Namibia’s cultural heritage)—so my main association was with the fact that she had lived there for a time. But reading about it, I’ve got to say I felt a real desire to go there—it’s the pictures of the Namib Desert that got me.

I used to be so overwhelmed by the ideas of Africa—and, too, Central Australia—that I just didn’t know how to engage them. Their vastness was so difficult to comprehend. I guess it’s a reasonably common experience in that situation that people turn away from contemplating the hugeness. (It can be as mind-bending as solid light currently is to me…) I’m still not one hundred percent sure what turned me around—although I do know that a major factor was the writing of the sadly deceased Polish writer Ryszard Kapuściński. His work is so extraordinary—if you haven’t read it, all I can do is urge you to do so. I can’t wait for the rest of his work to be translated into English—at the moment not even half of it is available. (Alternatively, I can’t wait to learn Polish—there are so many Polish writers I would love to read in the original…) It’s wonderful to place him alongside the other writer I’ve working my way through outside of university, Bruce Chatwin. (I'm currently reading In Patagonia. Learning more about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, too.)

It has been suggested that, at the end of a year of researching independence days, I will be the perfect partner for a trivia night. As if I'm not trivial enough already. And since when is independence trivial? I'm tempted to mention the notion to an American on the Fourth of July...

I have to write about catching up with Elena Knox yesterday—that will come. Later. Right now, I plan to spend a few hours highlighting the uses of silence in Paradise Lost. Perhaps an odd pursuit, but I'm sure it will have a payoff.